U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin listens to remarks by U.S. President Joe Biden during a Cabinet meeting inside the West Wing at the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 20. Reuters-Yonhap

U.S. Defense Secretary LLoyd Austin has said he cannot confirm North Korea's troop deployment to Russia, but if true, it would be concerning, according to a news report.

Austin made the remark Saturday to reporters in Naples of Italy where he attended a meeting of the defense ministers from the Group of Seven countries, according to a Reuters report, after South Korea's intelligence agency revealed the North's troop dispatch.

On Friday, the National Intelligence Service said that the North has decided to send around 12,000 troops to support Russia in the war in Ukraine, with roughly 1,500 soldiers already sent to the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok aboard Russian naval vessels. (Yonhap)